


That Time McCoy Gave Spock a Kitten

by victoriousscarf



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-16
Updated: 2008-04-16
Packaged: 2020-09-06 08:39:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20288599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriousscarf/pseuds/victoriousscarf
Summary: Slowly, Spock’s brow rose. “Why have you gotten me a kitten?”“Well,” McCoy drawled, depositing the little bundle of fur into Spock’s arms, “You seemed to like Gary Seven’s cat so much, I thought you might like one of your own.”





	That Time McCoy Gave Spock a Kitten

**Author's Note:**

> These were once multiple ficlets now combined into one.

“Spock!” McCoy yelled, the door swishing at his appearance. “SPOCK!”  
  
“Here, doctor,” the Vulcan said from with in the room.   
  
McCoy grinned. “Ohhhh Spock, I have something for you.” The bundle in his hands wiggled a bit and opened its small mouth.  
  
Spock blinked as he came up to his lover. “Leonard, that’s a …”  
  
“Kitten,” McCoy grinned at it meowed and bit his finger. “Isn’t she a cutie?”  
  
Slowly, Spock’s brow rose. “Why have you gotten me a kitten?”  
  
“Well,” McCoy drawled, depositing the little bundle of fur into Spock’s arms, “You seemed to like Gary Seven’s cat so much, I thought you might like one of your own.”  
  
The doctor could almost see the faint smile on the Vulcan’s face. The kitten stretched and curled up in his hands, purring. “Thank you.”  
  
“No problem, love,” McCoy wrapped his arms around Spock and kissed him, the kitten still purring between them and she slept.   
  
Sitting down together on the bed, Spock stroked the small body and she rolled on her stomach for even better petting. “Now just don’t love the little thing more than me.”  
  
“I assure you, that shall not be a problem.”  
  
~  
  
‘Why does she not have a tail?”  
  
“Because she’s a pixie-bob!”  
  
“A what?”  
  
“Pixie-bob. They’re a breed of cat, Spock.”  
  
“And they have no tail?”  
  
“Yup.”  
  
“Fascinating.”  
  
~  
  
Later, when they lay entangled the kitten stepped daintily over their sides to sit between them and purr. “Does she ever stop purring?” Spock asked sleepily.   
  
“She must sleep sometime,” McCoy murmured.

* * *

“Doctor,” Spock said. “Get your cat off my terminal.”  
  
McCoy pouted as he lifted the kitten, who started purring. “She’s your cat, Spock.”  
  
“Not when she’s on my terminal. Then she’s your cat, Leonard.”   
  
“Our cat?” McCoy offered as the kitten began climbing all over his shoulders and upper arms, claws coming in and out.   
  
The doctor yelped as she catapulted off his back and landed gracefully on the floor. Both men starred as she washed herself and stalked over towards the litter box.   
  
“Your cat,” Spock said, and turned back to his work.  
  
“Spo~ck,” McCoy drawled. “Haven’t you done enough yet?”  
  
“Doctor, I am busy, and having a cat walk over all my work hardly helped.”  
  
McCoy drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment. “Spo~ck.”  
  
“Yes, Doctor?”  
  
“Are you done yet?”  
  
The Vulcan turned to almost glare at his lover. “No.”  
  
“Can it wait until tomorrow?”  
  
“…Maybe.”

* * *

“Bones,” Kirk asked, his chair swiveled around to watch the doctor walk onto the Bridge. “Why do you have a kitten?”  
  
“Because it’s Mr. Spock’s kitten, and since he took three whole watches in a row with out any rest, she was feeling lonely and unloved.”  
  
“Why Mr. Spock,” Kirk swiveled the Captain’s Chair™ to look at his CSO and First Officer. “I didn’t know you had a cat.”  
  
“It is Dr. McCoy’s cat,” Spock deadpanned.   
  
Again, the chair pivoted, returning the Captain’s attention to his CMO. “Now now Mr. Spock,” McCoy scolded as he sat the kitten down on Spock’s lap. “It’s your cat and you have to take responsibly for it. I’m also here to drag your ass back to your quarters since you’ve just taken three whole watches without rest. Medical worry for your health and wellbeing.”  
  
“I am about to make a fascinating discovery, Doctor.”  
  
“Well, it’ll still be there in eight hours. Or ten. Or even fifteen.”  
  
Considering for a moment, Spock nodded and followed McCoy out of the Bridge, the kitten purring in his arms.   
  
~  
  
“You just wanted to get me back to my quarters to sleep with me.”  
  
“Damn right!”  
  
“Me~owwww.”

* * *

“Leonard, it seems illogical that the cat doesn’t have a name.”  
  
“Her name is Kitten.”  
  
“That is HIGHLY illogical, especially since she won’t remain a kitten forever. And it is not unique. Any cat could be named ‘Kitten.’”  
  
“We are NOT naming it some Vulcan name I can barely pronounce unless I have the common cold!”  
  
“You don’t seem inclined to come up with a name.”  
  
“Pumpkin.”  
  
“She is neither round nor orange.”  
  
“She’s slightly umber…”  
  
“Leonard…”  
  
“I like Pumpkin. It’s cute, like she is. Ah, aren’t you a cutie? Yes you are, yes you are.”  
  
“Puuuurrrrr.”  
  
“We aren’t naming her Pumpkin.”  
  
“Do you like the name Pumpkin, Pumpkin?”  
  
“Puuuurrrr…”  
  
“See, she likes it.”  
  
“…”  
  
“…”  
  
“Kissing me is not going to make me agree with you.”  
  
“You suuuure?”  
  
“Positive.”  
  
“…”  
  
“Pouting won’t work either.”   
  
“She looks like a Pumpkin!”  
  
“… Only for you, Doctor, only for you.”  
  
“So we can name her Pumpkin?”  
  
“*Long suffering sigh* Yes, Leonard.”  
  
“PUUURRR.”

* * *

Curling up around Spock’s chest, McCoy considered the possibility of a human ever learning to purr.   
  
“It’s annoying,” he muttered sleepily.   
  
“What is Doctor?”  
  
“That you never sweat. Very… annoying.”  
  
“Hmmm. Vulcan is much hotter than your world.”  
  
“Don’t I know it,” McCoy laughed a little, snuggling.   
  
Pumpkin climbed over McCoy’s side to curl up between them. “Hello kitty,” McCoy grinned, face resting on Spock’s chest. “Did we wake you up?”  
  
“Meow.”  
  
“I swear that cat’s intelligent,” McCoy muttered.   
  
Spock smiled ever so slightly, but only because McCoy couldn’t see him. “Quite possible. Stranger thinks have happened.”  
  
“Such as?”  
  
“Us.”   
  
McCoy rolled his eyes and reached for a pillow. Tired as he was, he didn’t really think about what he was doing until after he’d whacked Spock with it.   
  
The Vulcan’s eyebrows migrated upward. “Leonard.”  
  
The Doctor grinned. And did it again.  
  
Well, Spock couldn’t just let the doctor do all the pillow hitting…  
  
Pumpkin rose daintily, and stalked off the bed. Upon reaching the floor, she began washing herself.  
  
~  
  
The next morning, Spock seemed almost a little more refreshed than usual. Kirk didn’t really notice or care though.   
  
The turbo lift door did it’s swooshy thing and McCoy stepped onto the bridge. With a pillow. Calmly, he walked over to Spock, and slammed it over his head. Feathers went flying.   
  
The entire bridge froze. Then just as calmly, McCoy walked off the bridge, presumably returning to Sick Bay.   
  
A stray feather landed on Kirk’s head.   
  
“Spock. What the hell was that?”  
  
“That was Dr. McCoy and a pillow.”  
  
“Well, yes, but why did he hit you with it?”  
  
“To prove a point, Captain.”  
  
“Which would be?”  
  
Spock pondered that for a moment. “Too many variables. Logically, it is hard to fathom.”  
  
“Can you fathom it illogically?”  
  
“Possibly Captain.”  
  
“Any ideas?”  
  
The whole bridge waited for Spock’s answer.   
  
“No Captain.”  
  
Frustrated, Kirk threw up his hands. “Whatever. Someone clean up these feathers! And hail Sick Bay.”  
  
“Sick Bay here.”  
  
“McCoy,” Kirk sighed. “What the hell was that all about?”  
  
McCoy grinned. “Proving a point, Jim.”  
  
“Which would be?”  
  
Still grinning, McCoy shook his head. “Hard to explain, Jim.”  
  
“Care to try?”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
Kirk glared out the view screen. “Whatever. I don’t care anymore.”  
  
Maybe I should become a monk or take up drinking or something, Kirk thought as the bridge resumed normalcy. 

* * *

“Mr. Spock?”  
  
“Yes Captain.”  
  
Kirk spun his chair a little as he thought. “Why were you and McCoy arguing over whose cat it was a few days ago?”  
  
“Because the Doctor insists it’s my cat.”  
  
“Well, who bought it?”  
  
“The Doctor.”  
  
“So why does he say it’s your cat?”  
  
Spock paused. “Because he is Dr. McCoy.”  
  
For a moment Kirk thought on that. “Huh?”  
  
Spock shrugged a little and returned to work.   
  
~  
  
Later that same shift, most of the bridge was off as it was a slow day, just Spock, Kirk, and some ensign at the helm.   
  
“Mr. Spock,” Kirk slid up to his first officer. “I was just wondering…”  
  
“Yes Captain?”  
  
“Well, how you felt about relationships…”  
  
Subtle the Captain was not. Spock’s eyebrows went up at an alarming rate. “Captain, are you asking me if I’d like to enter a relationship with you?”  
  
Darting a glance at the ensign, Kirk nodded.   
  
“If you had thought to ask a few years ago, maybe it would have been.”  
  
Kirk looked confused. He wasn’t very used to being turned down by anyone, let alone his first officer. “Excuse me?”  
  
“No Captain.”  
  
“But---,”   
  
“I am in a ‘relationship’ with someone else.”  
  
Kirk was just opening his mouth when the turbolift swooshed open to reveal none other than McCoy.  
  
“Spoooock, Pumpkin says you need sleep.”  
  
“I have only had one shift.”  
  
“Well I just got down with three in a row, patching up all those people from this morning. Very early morning. So get your Vulcan ass over here to watch over your cat.”  
  
Kirk’s mouth opened a little more.  
  
“Very well, Doctor. If it’s all right Captain.”   
  
“Yeah… I’ll call Uhura… or Chekov… or…”  
  
Leaving his Captain to his thoughts, Spock followed McCoy off the bridge.  
  
“Bones?” Kirk asked the wall. “Spock and Bones? Bones and Spock?”  
  
The ensign didn’t say a word.   
  
“That’s it,” Kirk muttered. “I’m either taking up drinking or becoming a monk.”

* * *

McCoy opened the door to Spock’s quarters, bone dead tired and ready to fall on the Vulcan’s bed and just sleep there. (Yeah, he had his own quarters, what’s it to you? He _liked_ being around the Vulcan.)

Only, instead of the restful evening planned, he found a narrow eyed Vulcan starring at him when he walked in. “You’re cat,” Spock said pointedly, “Is keeping me from my work.”

McCoy blinked. “My cat?” he asked. “Pumpkin? She’s your cat. I bought her for you and everything. Your cat. I take no responsibly for what she’s—what is she doing?”

“I believe,” Spock ground out, as Pumpkin weaved through his legs and pointed her little tail up at him. “That she is in heat.”

“Awww,” McCoy picked up the squirming cat. “Is Pumpkin going through kitty Pon Farr?” Mewing, Pumpkin escaped his grasp and rubbed herself all over the floor before presenting her tail to McCoy. “Huh. Maybe I should’ve got her fixed.”

“You’re a doctor,” Spock came close to snapping. “You ‘fix’ her.”

“I’m a doctor, not a veterinarian! I have no idea how to spay a female cat!”

“Learn,” Spock deadpanned.

Blinking some more, McCoy started walking toward the bed alcove, Pumpkin following. Spock starred after him. “Next shore leave, we’re finding a vet. I am not messing with little Pumpkin. You can put up with kitty Pon Farr. I’m sleeping.”

“Kitty Pon Farr?” Spock’s eye brow went up at the second mention.

“Yup,” came McCoy’s voice from the bed.

Looking sideways at his screen, Spock rose and joined his lover and cat on the bed. 

* * *

Spock walked into McCoy’s quarters, looking for his lover, to find a bundle of blankets on the bed. Approaching said bundle, he discovered it was McCoy curled up and wrapped up like a burrito, with Pumpkin purring on the bed beside him.

“Leonard?” he asked.

“What?” the doctor grumbled from his cocoon.

“Are you alright?”

He heard a snuffling noise and some more grumbling before McCoy finally answered. “I’m sick.”

Spock blinked a few times and was glad the doctor couldn’t see his face. “Are you not a doctor?”

“Damn it, that doesn’t mean I’ve found a cure to the common cold yet!” There was some more sniffing noises. Spock laid a hand against McCoy’s forehead, only to have him jerk back. “Your hand’s too hot,” McCoy muttered, pulling the blankets back up to his chin. Pumpkin stretched and meowed at Spock to feed her.

McCoy watched Spock walk away and return minutes later. “Is there anything you need?” the Vulcan asked.

“A cure for the common cold.”

The eyebrow went up. “Or about another three blankets and some pudding would be nice.”

As Spock went to gather the requested items, McCoy gave Pumpkin a weak smile. “Aren’t we lucky? We managed to catch the most romantic Vulcan out there.”

Pumpkin washed her paw and climbed back into bed with McCoy.

* * *

The door swished open to McCoy’s quarters, but when he stepped inside, Spock found them devoid of the doctor.

Pumpkin, however, was there and not pleased. Meowing, she weaved through his legs. Spock sighed and picked her up. “It appears we must go find him.”

She meowed in agreement.

~

The doors to sickbay swished open and Spock looked in, Pumpkin curled up in his arms. Sure enough, McCoy was in his office, hunched over the computer. “Doctor,” Spock said, stepping into the room. “Are you well enough to be working?”

Before he could answer, McCoy sneezed, causing Spock’s eyebrows to shoot up. “I’m fine,” McCoy grumbled.

“And what is it you are doing?”

“Finding a damn cure to the damnable common cold!”

“And how long have you been researching?”

McCoy at least had the decency to look abashed. “All day.”

Spock plopped Pumpkin down on the terminal in front of McCoy. “And what was your temperature this morning?” Spock demanded.

“Damnit Spock! I’m a doctor, not a child!”

“When you act like one, I shall treat you like one.”

McCoy glared at the Vulcan before sneezing again.

“Doctor, I kindly ask that you return to your quarters now before you make yourself sicker,” Spock crossed his arms just as Pumpkin meowed at McCoy from where she was sitting staring at him.

“I’m perfectly able to—!”

“Doctor,” Spock said.

McCoy looked up at him, and then back at Pumpkin. Then he sneezed. “Oh all right,” he grumbled, rising and nearly falling over. Luckily, Spock caught him. “Don’t you dare say anything like I told you so.”

Spock looked innocent. “There would be no logical reason to say such a thing,” he said, supporting McCoy as they made their way back to the doctor’s quarters, a purring Pumpkin following them.

* * *

“Leonard,” Spock said. “Pumpkin is acting strangely. And despite no change in the amount of food given to her, or at least,” he gave McCoy a pointed look. “No change in the amount of food given to her I know of. But, at any rate, she’s getting fatter.”

“I haven’t been feeding her anything extra,” McCoy grumbled from his work station.

“The fact does remain that she is getting fatter, however.”

McCoy finally looked over and frowned. “Hey Spock, how many weeks has it been since last spacedock?”

“About four.”

Still frowning, McCoy picked up Pumpkin and carried her into sickbay.

“Leonard, what are you doing?”

“Checking something,” he replied, holding an instrument over her belly as she lay on the sickbed purring. “Oh hell.”

“What is it?”

“Spock, you took her in to get spayed didn’t you?”

Spock shook his head. “Wasn’t she in heat then? I was unaware you could perform the operation while the cat was already in heat.”

“Er, and you weren’t watching her the whole time?”

“I thought you were.”

McCoy turned to him with a stricken look.

“Spock, she’s going to have kittens.”

Freezing, Spock starred at him. More cats? More tiny, _needy_ cats? Suddenly, McCoy grinned. “Spock, we’re going to be grandparents of a litter of kittens.”

Spock sat down. This was not going to help his concentration or performance rating _at all_.


End file.
